Boston, MA (PRWEB) March 18, 2015

In the vast flow of new scientific research, discoveries, and information, it is not uncommon for important scientific advances to go unappreciated, or even just unnoticed, for surprisingly long periods of time. The Boston stem cell medicine technology start-up company, Asymmetrex is working to make sure that its growing portfolio of adult tissue stem cell technology patents obtains wide notice, appreciation, and investment.

In late 2014, the company started a digital media campaign to achieve greater visibility for its patented technologies that address the major barriers to greater progress in stem cell medicine. These include technologies for identifying, counting, and mass-producing adult tissue stem cells. The two presentations scheduled for the 5th World Congress on Cell and Stem Cell Research in Chicago continue Asymmetrexs efforts to better inform medical, research, and industrial communities focused on advancing stem cell medicine of the companys vision for implementation of its unique technologies.

Asymmetrex holds patents for the only method described for routine production of natural human tissue stem cells that retain their normal function. The company also holds patents for biomarkers that can be used to count tissue stem cells for the first time. The companys most recently developed technology was invented with computer-simulation leader, AlphaSTAR Corporation. In partnership, the two companies created a first-of-its-kind method for monitoring adult tissue stem cell number and function for any human tissue that can be cultured. This advance is the basis for the two companies AlphaSTEM technology for detecting adult tissue stem cell-toxic drug candidates before conventional preclinical testing in animals or clinical trials. Asymmetrex and AlphaSTAR plan to market the new technology to pharmaceutical companies. The implementation of AlphaSTEM technology would accelerate drug development and reduce adverse drug events for volunteers and patients. At full capacity use, AlphaSTEM could reduce U.S. drug development costs by $4-5 billion each year.

About Asymmetrex (http://asymmetrex.com/)

Asymmetrex, LLC is a Massachusetts life sciences company with a focus on developing technologies to advance stem cell medicine. Asymmetrexs founder and director, James L. Sherley, M.D., Ph.D. is an internationally recognized expert on the unique properties of adult tissue stem cells. The companys patent portfolio contains biotechnologies that solve the two main technical problems production and quantification that have stood in the way of successful commercialization of human adult tissue stem cells for regenerative medicine and drug development. In addition, the portfolio includes novel technologies for isolating cancer stem cells and producing induced pluripotent stem cells for disease research purposes. Currently, Asymmetrexs focus is employing its technological advantages to develop facile methods for monitoring adult stem cell number and function in clinically important human tissues.

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Boston Stem Cell Biotech Start-up Asymmetrex Will Present Essential Technologies for Stem Cell Medical Engineering at ...

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Orthopedic Stem Cell Therapy - Queens, New York
Benjamin Bieber MD of #CrossBayPMR in Howard Beach, New York has had great success with #stemcell therapy using your own fat cells. Avoid invasive #jointreplacement surgery and get back to...

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BOSTON (TheStreet) --A question about Neuralstem (CUR - Get Report) and its stem-cell therapy for ALS kicks off this week's Biotech Stock Mailbag.

Steve writes, "If 47% of the people responded well and their progression of the disease slowed considerably, then I see this as a huge success for a disease with no cure. I don't have ALS or know anyone that does, but if I had it, I would immediately want the treatment knowing that there is a 47% chance that I will respond positively to it and it would DRASTICALLY slow the progression of the disease. Wouldn't you agree, or am I missing the point somewhere?"

Eight of the 15 (53%) ALS patients enrolled in the study saw their ALSFRS scores fall from an average of 40 to 14 over nine months. This is a rapid decline in muscle function and suggests NSI-566 accelerates the progression of ALS.

If you believe 47% of patients in the Neuralstem study benefit from NSI-566, you can't ignore the 53% of patients who fare far worse and may actually be harmed by the stem cell therapy.

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Biotech Stock Mailbag: Neuralstem, Genfit, Intercept, Amarin

GERMANTOWN, MD, March 12, 2015 -- Neuralstem, Inc. (NYSE MKT: CUR) announced top line data from the Phase II trial of NSI-566 spinal cord-derived neural stem cells under development for the treatment of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). The study met primary safety endpoints. The maximum tolerated dose of 16 million transplanted cells and the surgery was well tolerated.

Secondary efficacy endpoints at nine months post-surgery indicate a 47% response rate to the stem cell treatment, as measured by either near-zero slope of decline or positive slope of ALSFRS score in seven out of 15 patients and by either a near-zero decline, or positive strengthening, of grip strength in seven out of 15 patients. Grip strength is an indicator of direct muscle strength of the lower arm. ALSFRS is a standard clinical test used to evaluate the functional status of ALS patients. The average ALSFRS score for responders at 9 months after treatment was 37. Non-responders scored an average of 14. These scores represent 93%, versus 35%, of the baseline score retained, respectively, by the responders versus non-responders at 9 months, which is a statistically significant difference. As measured by an average slope of decline of ALSFRS, responders' disease progression was -0.007 point per day, while non-responders' disease progression was -0.1 per day, which was again statistically significant. Lung function as measured by Seated Vital Capacity shows that responder patients remained within 94% of their starting scores, versus 71% for non-responder patients. The trial met its primary safety endpoints. Both the surgery and cells were well-tolerated, with one patient experiencing a surgical serious adverse event.

"In this study, cervical intervention was both safe and well-tolerated with up to 8 million cells in 20 bilateral injections," said Karl Johe, PhD, Neuralstem Chief Scientific Officer. "The study also demonstrated biological activity of the cells and stabilization of disease progression in a subset of patients. As in the first trial, there were both responders and non-responders within the same cohort, from patients whose general pre-surgical presentation is fairly similar. However, we believe that through the individual muscle group measurements, we may now be able to differentiate the responders from the non-responders.

"Our therapy involves transplanting NSI-566 cells directly into specific segments of the cord where the cells integrate into the host motor neurons. The cells surround, protect and nurture the patient's remaining motor neurons in those various cord segments. The approximate strength of those remaining motor neuron pools can be measured indirectly through muscle testing of the appropriate areas, such as in the grip strength tests. We believe these types of endpoints, measuring muscle strength, will allow us to effectively predict patients that will respond to treatment, adding a sensitive measure of the therapeutic effects after treatment. Testing this hypothesis will be one of the primary goals of our next trial." The full data is being compiled into a manuscript for publication.

"We believe the top-line data are encouraging," said Eva Feldman MD, PhD, Director of the A. Alfred Taubman Medical Research Institute and Director of Research of the ALS Clinic at the University of Michigan Health System, and an unpaid consultant to Neuralstem. "We were able to dose up to 16 million cells in 40 injections, which we believe to be the maximum tolerated dose. As in the first trial, the top-line data show disease stabilization in a subgroup of patients. Perhaps equally as important, we believe the top-line data may support a method of differentiating responders from non-responders, which we believe will support our efforts as we move into the next, larger controlled trial expected to begin this summer."

"The top-line data look very positive and encouraging. If this proportion of patients doing well after treatment can be corroborated in future therapeutic trials, it will be better than any response seen in any previous ALS trials," said site principal investigator, Jonathan D. Glass, MD, Director of the Emory ALS Center. "Elucidating which factors define a patient who may have a therapeutic response to the stem cell treatment will be the next key challenge. We are hopeful that a set of predictive algorithms can be established to help pre-select the responders in our future trials."

"We were very excited to participate as a site in this clinical trial," said Merit Cudkowicz, MD, Chief of Neurology, Massachusetts General Hospital and Co-Chair of the Northeast ALS Consortium (NEALS). "We are hopeful with respect to the top-line results and we need to move swiftly and safely forward to confirm the responder effect and identify people who might benefit from this treatment approach."

The open-label, dose-escalating trial treated 15 ambulatory patients, divided into 5 dosing cohorts, at three centers, Emory University Hospital in Atlanta, Georgia, the ALS Clinic at the University of Michigan Health System, in Ann Arbor, Michigan, and Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, Massachusetts, and under the direction of principal investigator (PI), Eva Feldman, MD, PhD, Director of the A. Alfred Taubman Medical Research Institute and Director of Research of the ALS Clinic at the University of Michigan Health System. Dosing increased from 1 million to 8 million cells in the cervical region of the spinal cord. The final trial cohort also received an additional 8 million cells in the lumbar region of the spinal cord.

The company anticipates commencing a later-stage, multicenter trial of NSI-566 for treatment of ALS in 2015. Neuralstem has received orphan designation by the FDA for NSI-566 in ALS.

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Neuralstem announces topline results of Phase II ALS trial

WASHINGTON: Researchers, including one of Indian-origin, have created a 'heart-on-a-chip' loaded with human cardiac muscle cells that mimic the real organ to serve as a novel tool to screen medicines. Researchers developed a network of pulsating cardiac muscle cells housed in an inch-long silicone de-vice that effectively models human heart tissue, and they have demonstrated the viability of this system as a drug-screening tool by testing it with cardiovascular medications.

This organ-on-a-chip represents a major step forward in the development of accurate, faster methods of testing for drug toxicity, researchers said. "Ultimately, these chips could replace the use of animals to screen drugs for safety and efficacy," said professor Kevin Healy from the University of California, Berkeley. The authors noted a high failure rate associated with the use of non-human animal models to predict human reactions to new drugs.

"It takes about 5 billion on average to develop a drug, and 60% of that figure comes from upfront costs in the research and development phase. Using a well-designed model of a human organ could significantly cut the cost and time of bringing a new drug to market," said Healy.

The heart cells were derived from human-induced pluripotent stem cells, the adult stem cells that can be coaxed to become many different types of tissue. Researchers designed their heart-on-a-chip so that its 3D structure would be comparable to the geometry and spacing of connective tissue fibre in a human heart.

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Drug testing on heart-on-a-chip gets a step closer

Durham, NC (PRWEB) March 11, 2015

Scientists report in the current issue of STEM CELLS Translational Medicine that they have been able to clone a line of defective stem cells behind a rare, but devastating disease called Fanconi Anemia (FA). Their achievement opens the door to drug screening and the potential for a new, safe treatment for this often fatal disease.

FA is a hereditary blood disorder that leads to bone marrow failure (FA-BMF) and cancer. Patients who suffer from FA have a life expectancy of 33 years. Currently, a bone marrow transplant offers the only possibility for a cure. However, this treatment has many risks associated with it, especially for FA patients due to their extreme sensitivity to radiation and chemotherapy.

Although various consequences in hematopoietic stem cells (the cells that give rise to all the other blood cells) have been attributed to FA-BMF, its cause is still unknown, said Megumu K. Saito, M.D., Ph.D., of Kyoto Universitys Center for iPS Cell and Application, and a lead investigator on the study. His laboratory specializes in studying the kinds of pediatric diseases in which a thorough analysis using mouse models or cultured cell lines is not feasible, so they apply disease-specific induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) instead.

To address the FA issue, he explained, our team (including colleagues from Tokai University School of Medicine) established iPSCs from two FA patients who have the FANCA gene mutation that is typical in FA. We were then able to obtain fetal type immature blood cells from these iPSCs.

When observing the iPSCs, the researchers found that the characteristics of immature blood cells from FA-iPSCs were different from control cells. The FA-iPSCs showed an increased DNA double-strand break rate, as well as a sharp reduction of hematopoietic stem cells compared to the control group of non-FA iPSCs.

These data indicate that the hematopoietic consequences in FA patients originate from the earliest hematopoietic stage and highlight the potential usefulness of iPSC technology for explaining how FA-BMF occurs, said Dr. Saito. Since conducting a comprehensive analysis of patient-derived affected stem cells is not feasible without iPSC technology, the technology provides an unprecedented opportunity to gain further insight into this disease.

This work shows promise for identifying the initial pathological event that causes the disease, which would be a first step in working toward a cure, said Anthony Atala, M.D., Editor-in-Chief of STEM CELLS Translational Medicine and director of the Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine.

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The full article, Pluripotent cell models of Fanconi anemia identify the early pathological defect in human hemoangiogenic progenitors, can be accessed at http://www.stemcellstm.com.

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Stem Cell Clones Could Yield New Drug Treatment for Deadly Blood Disease

The author has posted comments on this articlePTI | Feb 23, 2015, 12.47AM IST

Ten different donor sources have been used so far and new germ-cell lines have been created from all of them, researchers said.

Page 1 of 4

Scientists at Cambridge University collaborated with Israel's Weizmann Institute of Science and used stem cell lines from embryos as well as from the skin of five different adults. Researchers have previously created live baby mice using engineered eggs and sperm, but until now have struggled to create a human version of these 'primordial germ' or stem cells.

Ten different donor sources have been used so far and new germ-cell lines have been created from all of them, researchers said.

"We have succeeded in the first and most important step of this process, which is to show we can make these very early human stem cells in a dish," said Azim Surani, professor of physiology and reproduction at Cambridge, who heads the project.

"We have also discovered that one of the things that happens in these germ cells is that epigenetic mutations, the cell mistakes that occur with age, are wiped out," said Surani, who was involved in research that led to the birth of Louise Brown, the world's first test-tube baby, in 1978.

Jacob Hanna, the specialist leading the project's Israeli arm, said it may be possible to use the technique to create a baby in just two years.

"It has already caused interest from gay groups because of the possibility of making egg and sperm cells from parents of the same sex," he said. The details of the technique were published in the journal Cell.

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Now, same-sex couples can make babies

Scientists at Tuft University in Massachusetts grew bone marrow on silk They were able to generate functioning platelet cells that form blood clots The cells could be used to stop bleeding in injured patients in ER rooms It has raised hopes that man-made blood can be created for transfusions However some say it could be up to 15 years before stem cells can be used to create blood that can be safely used for transfusions during surgery

By Richard Gray for MailOnline

Published: 11:46 EST, 19 February 2015 | Updated: 12:50 EST, 23 February 2015

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A major component of blood has been grown in the laboratory by scientists, bringing man-made blood transfusions a step closer.

Biomedical engineers have for the first time produced functional blood platelets - the cells that cause clots to form - from human bone marrow grown in the laboratory.

The achievement raises hopes that it will soon be possible to produce fully functional blood in a similar way.

Scientists have managed to grow fully functioning platelets like the one above surrounded by red blood cells

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Could we soon have man-made blood?

DEAR DOCTOR K: I have leukemia. Thankfully, a family member was a bone marrow match. Can you tell me what to expect during my bone marrow transplant procedure?

DEAR READER: A bone marrow transplant can be a life-saving treatment. To understand how it works, you need to understand how blood cells are created. And what leukemia is.

Your blood contains red and white blood cells. There are several types of white blood cells, which are a key part of your immune system. All your blood cells are made by blood stem cells, which live primarily in the spongy center of your big bones.

In the years before you got leukemia, each of your blood cells was programmed to live for a while, and then to die only to be replaced by new, young cells.

When you developed leukemia, genetic changes in some white blood cells suddenly kept them from dying. As a result, the number of that type of white blood cell kept growing. An ideal treatment would kill just the cancerous white blood cells, and allow noncancerous new cells to replace them. The ideal treatment has not been discovered. Bone marrow transplant, while less than ideal, is such an important advance that it was honored with the Nobel Prize.

In a bone marrow transplant, all of your white blood cells healthy and cancerous are killed by drugs, radiation or both. Then healthy blood stem cells are infused into your blood. Those cells find their way to your bone marrow, and start to make healthy new red and white blood cells. The new cells will multiply. Ive put an illustration of the transplant process on my website, AskDoctorK.com.

The healthy blood stem cells may be collected from your blood, before the main radiation or chemotherapy begins. The cells are treated to remove any cancer cells, and then stored until the transplant. In your case, the healthy blood stem cells will come from another person (a donor). The donors cells must be a good match for you this means certain markers on their cells and your cells are as similar as possible. This reduces the risk that the cells will be rejected by your body.

Bone marrow transplants are usually used to treat leukemia, lymphomas, Hodgkins disease and multiple myeloma, because these cancers affect the bone marrow directly. The procedure is also used for some noncancerous conditions, such as sickle cell anemia.

You will stay in the hospital for several weeks after the transplant. Until your bone marrow cells multiply to a certain level, you will be at increased risk of infection. Other serious risks include severe bleeding, liver problems and increased risk of developing another cancer.

Another possible problem is that cells from a donor might not match your cells well enough and the new donor cells will begin attacking the cells of your body. This is called graft-versus-host disease. You will take medications to reduce the risk of this happening. Despite the dangers, bone marrow transplantation is usually successful.

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The ins and outs of bone marrow transplantation

IMAGE:This is Assistant Professor of Biology Jason Meyer, Ph.D. of the School of Science at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis with graduate students Sarah Ohlemacher (left) and Akshaya Sridhar. view more

Credit: School of Science at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis

INDIANAPOLIS -- Jason Meyer, Ph.D., assistant professor of biology in the School of Science at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis, has received a National Institutes of Health grant to study how glaucoma develops in stem cells created from skin cells genetically predisposed to the disease. The five-year, $1.8 million grant is funded by the NIH's National Eye Institute.

Glaucoma is a group of degenerative diseases that damage the eye's optic nerve and can result in vision loss and blindness. It is the most common disease that affects retinal ganglion cells. These cells serve as the connection between the eye and the brain. Once these cells are damaged or severed, the brain cannot receive critical information, leading to blindness.

Meyer's research uses human induced pluripotent stem cells, which can be generated from any cell in the body. In this case, they are created from skin cells of patients predisposed to glaucoma. These cells are genetically reprogrammed and then given instructions to develop into cells of the eye's retina.

"Our hope is that because these cells have the genetic information to develop the disease, they will do so in our lab," Meyer said. "Hopefully, we can figure out what goes wrong in those cells and then develop new ways to fix that."

Meyer and two School of Science graduate students are now creating the stem cells and observing their features to determine what isn't going the way it should. They will determine whether they can identify the cause of damage or death of the retinal ganglion cells.

"This is a five-year award, so our hope is that toward the end of the award we can use the information we gather to start developing customized strategies to fix what's going wrong," Meyer said.

He sees this as an exciting approach to stem cell research. Often, stem cells are transplanted to replace cells damaged by disease. While that's a possibility, Meyer's research instead could lead to repairing the existing cells in the eye and restoring vision for patients.

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IUPUI biologist receives NIH grant to study how glaucoma develops in stem cells

Published February 10, 2015

A British biotech company founded by a Nobel prize winner has raised what it says is a record 691,000 pounds ($1 million) via crowdfunding to help launch a stem cell-based regenerative medicine for use following heart trauma.

Cell Therapy, based in the Welsh capital Cardiff, says the medicine has the potential to reduce scarring of the heart muscle caused by a heart attack or failure.

Chief Executive Ajan Reginald, previously at Roche, said crowd funding was a quick way to raise money for final stage trials or commercial launches.

"It was very fast and very efficient," he told Reuters on Monday. "We have spent 5 percent of our time on fundraising, which enables me to spend 95 percent of my time on the business."

The company, whose founder Martin Evans shared the 2007 Nobel Prize for medicine for groundbreaking stem cell research, used website Crowdcube to raise nearly three times its original target from more than 300 investors.

Reginald said the backers included investment bankers, hedge fund employees and scientists.

"Crowd funding allows investors to look in detail at a company in their own time," he said, adding that some 10,000 investors had seen the pitch.

The company would publish data from clinical trials of the drug, called Heartcel, next month, before final stage trials with a view to a launch in 2016.

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British biotech firm sets crowdfunding record with heart drug

Regenerative Medicine | Graziella Pellegrini
http://www.weforum.org/ Graziella Pellegrini, from the University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, Italy, showcases personalised, regenerative medicine that uses stem cell therapy to help restore sight.

By: World Economic Forum

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Regenerative Medicine | Graziella Pellegrini - Video

Regenerative Stem Cell Therapy
Mention you saw Solstice Health on The Morning Blend and get a FREE consultation for Stem Cell Therapy. Solstice Health is also hosting a FREE Stem Cell Therapy Seminar on Wednesday, March...

By: todaystmj4

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Regenerative Stem Cell Therapy - Video

Stem Cell Therapy in Heart Failure
Prof. G Feitosa for World Heart Failure Congress 2014.

By: World Heart Failure Congress

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Stem Cell Therapy in Heart Failure - Video

Overcoming Knee Replacement Surgery Faster Using Amniotic Tissue-Enhanced Stem Cell Therapy
Dr. McKenna discusses how the addition of a patient #39;s own bone marrow stem cells combined with AlphaGEMS amniotic tissue product helps patients recover faster from a total knee replacement ...

By: Riordan-McKenna Institute

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Overcoming Knee Replacement Surgery Faster Using Amniotic Tissue-Enhanced Stem Cell Therapy - Video

For the last week, an Italian neurosurgeon has been executing a full-blown media offensive, talking up his plan to stitch one persons head to another persons body. If the powers-that-be would just get over their ethical queasiness, Sergio Canavero of the Turin Advanced Neuromodulation Group says he could accomplish the feat by 2017.

But full-body transplants arent so crazy. In fact, it might surprise you that there was a successful operation as far back as 1818. Well, successful if you ignore that the transplantee freaked out and murdered his doctors family. Oh wait. That was Frankenstein. I take it back, full body transplants are totally crazy.

What the hell, going to the moon was crazy too, right? And a maybe-crazy-but-what-the-hell moonshot is exactly how Canavero sees his plan to help patients with severe physical impairments. Why did the US and the Soviet Union just vie for being the first to space? Because it is about measuring dicks. We want to demonstrate as a country, to say: I am the best, he says. Canaveros latest paper glosses over questions of ethics and practicality and tacklesthe trickiest aspect of the head-swapping procedure: The spinal splice.

Canaveros plan focuses on sewingtwo people together by their spinal cords. (Hooking up the rest of the utilitiesblood vessels, airways, blood vesselsis incredibly difficult, but trifling in comparison.) Step one is to sever the cords with a special, ultra-thin blade. Canavero rightly notes most cases of spinal trauma are well, traumatic: Snapping your neck on a skateboard ramp is bound to leave the spinal cord in an untidy condition. Those nerve cells scar, and scarring would impede their regeneration (if cells in the central nervous system could regeneratewell get to that in a sec). A clean wound, on the other hand, heals cleanly. Canavero likens those million sharply severed neurons to spaghetti. Italians adore spaghetti, I love spaghetti, and spaghetti is what is called for here, he says.

The job of fusing those spaghetti-like spinal sections together falls to a substance called polyethylene glycol. This stuff has actually been pretty good at repairing the motor functions in rats with spinal traumathough even the kindest critic will point out that successful rat experiments are a far cry from proving that the stuff will repair human spines. Still, Canavero is raring to go. I have enough animal data, he says. Give me a brain dead organ donor. Say someone is in a traumatic car accident, and doctors say that he cannot be saved. In the time between when the persons family says its OK to pull the plug and the moment the doctors actually do so, Canavero asks for three to four hours. I sever the spinal cord, add polyethylene glycol, and start measuring electrophysiological responses, he says.

After surgery (and during it, one hopes), Canavero will keep the patient in a coma. He estimates it will take about at least two weeks for the first axons to beginlacing themselves together, at which point the patient can be revived. Throughout the coma and for some time after, Canavero will bathe the spinal splice with a mild electrical current. This is not a free Frankenstein joke from the good doctor: Its actually a method thats seen surprisingly promising results healingrealhuman patients with spinal trauma. Canavero is confident that this will keep the muscle cells operational. Combined with physical therapy, Canavero estimates his as-yet-unchosen patient (any volunteers?) will be back on her (new) feet in about a year.

In case this wasnt entirelyclear: Canaveros plan is insane. Like, James Bond villain insane. And its not just because his plan fits together like a Voltron of bad science (which it does). Its kind of a bummer, actually, because his plan couldmaybework, if he was given free rein to cut and sew living peoples heads to dead peoples bodies until he got it right. But besides ethics, theres an unfortunate fact of biology standing in his way: The central nervous system in higher vertebrateslike humansdoes not regenerate. Hes insane. You cant put a head on somebody else! says Binhai Zhang, a neurosurgeon at UC San Diego. The reason why goes down to your DNA. The genes in a mature mammalian central nervous system that control regeneration are repressed, says Michael Beattie, a professor of neurosurgery at UC San Francisco. Theyll stay that way, no matter how much you treat the spinal cord with polyethylene glycol and electrical currents. (Although, hey, who wants to work on un-repressing those genes?)

Nobody knows for sure why the cells in your brain and spine arent wired for regrowth. After all, your peripheral nervous systemthe circuitry for every other part of your bodyconducts electrical impulses in exactly the same way, but its genes can code for self-repair. Beattie says this may have to do the fact the spine and brain contain the circuitry coded for movement, not just for conducting signals. Spinal cells must knit themselves together in super-complex configurations in order to command the motor functions youve learned over a lifetime. Once the connections are made, you dont want the wrong connections getting created, he says.

The only reliable way to induce spinal cell regrowth in higher order vertebrates is with stem cell therapy. Last year scientists showed pluripotent stem cells could regrow damaged spinal cordsbut only in rats. Mark Tuszynski studies stem cells in spinal injury at UC San Diego, and he says even with this advance the research community is years away from attempting suchtreatments on humans. Its not at the stage yet where there can be meaningful advances in clinical trials, he says. Plus stem cells will need help, in the form of drugs that knock down natural regeneration inhibitors that your body creates (because cancer), and still more drugs to keep your body from creating scar tissue around the wound. (Though in fairness, thats the idea behind Canaveros super-thin knife.) All of this research remainsyears away from clinical application.

And this slow, careful tempodo no harm being a hallmark of western medicineis what drives Canaveros bold assertion that he will have a successful head transplant in 24 months. There are all these people who tell you: Who is this guy who can do this in two years? When you go public with something like this, you have to have two balls like this. There are people who are not so strong-balled and will just get crushed by the critics. But I love the critics. This is a feat of theoretical neuroscience and the evidence is there and its going to work. In case you need clarification, his main argument there is Haters gonna hate.

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Full-Body Transplants Are a Crazy, Wildly Unethical Idea

Stem cells for life, Life Science Center

By: Cell Therapy Catapult

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Stem cells for life, Life Science Center - Video

In the new treatment, specialists use a high dose of chemotherapy to knock out the immune system before rebuilding it with stem cells taken from the patients own blood.

Stem cells are so effective because they can become any cell in the body based on their environment.

"Since we started treating patients three years ago, some of the results we have seen have been miraculous," Professor Basil Sharrack, a consultant neurologist at Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, told The Sunday Times.

"This is not a word I would use lightly, but we have seen profound neurological improvements."

During the treatment, the patient's stem cells are harvested and stored. Then doctors use aggressive drugs which are usually given to cancer patients to completely destroy the immune system.

The harvested stem cells are then infused back into the body where they start to grow new red and white blood cells within just two weeks.

Within a month the immune system is back up and running fully and that is when patients begin to notice that they are recovering.

Holly Drewry, 25, of Sheffield, was wheelchair bound after the birth of her daughter Isla, now two.

But she claims the new treatment has transformed her life.

It worked wonders, she said. I remember being in the hospital... after three weeks, I called my mum and said: 'I can stand'. We were all crying.

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'Miracle' stem cell therapy reverses multiple sclerosis

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Newswise NEW YORK, NY (February 27, 2015) Researchers have for the first time successfully converted adult human skin cells into neurons of the type that regulate appetite, providing a patient-specific model for studying the neurophysiology of weight control and testing new therapies for obesity. The study, led by researchers at Columbia University Medical Center (CUMC) and at the New York Stem Cell Foundation (NYSCF), was published last month in the online issue of the Journal of Clinical Investigation.

In a separate study, which appeared in the February 10 issue of the journal Development, Kevin Eggan, PhD, Florian Merkle, and Alexander Schier of Harvard University have also succeeded in creating hypothalamic neurons from iPS cells. These neurons help to regulate behavioral and basic physiological functions in the human body, including, in addition to appetite, hypertension, sleep, mood, and some social disorders. The investigators at Columbia and Harvard shared ideas during the course of the research, and these studies are co-validating.

Mice are a good model for studying obesity in humans, but it would better to have human cells for testing. Unfortunately, the cells that regulate appetite are located in an inaccessible part of the brain, the hypothalamus. So, until now, weve had to make do with a mouse model or with human cells harvested at autopsy. This has greatly limited our ability to study fundamental aspects of human obesity, said senior author Rudolph L. Leibel, MD, the Christopher J. Murphy Memorial Professor of Diabetes Research, professor of pediatrics and medicine, and co-director of the Naomi Berrie Diabetes Center at CUMC.

To make the neurons, human skin cells were first genetically reprogrammed to become induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells. Like natural stem cells, iPS cells are capable of developing into any kind of adult cell when given a specific set of molecular signals in a specific order. The iPS cell technology has been used to create a variety of adult human cell types, including insulin-producing beta cells and forebrain and motor neurons. But until now, no one has been able to figure out how to convert human iPS cells into hypothalamic neurons, said co-author Dieter Egli, PhD, assistant professor of pediatrics (in developmental cell biology), a member of the Naomi Berrie Diabetes Center, and a senior research fellow at NYSCF.

This is a wonderful example of several institutions coming together to collaborate and advance research in pursuit of new therapeutic interventions. The ability to make this type of neuron brings us one step closer to the development of new treatments for obesity, said Susan L. Solomon, CEO of NYSCF.

The CUMC/NYSCF team determined which signals are needed to transform iPS cells into arcuate hypothalamic neurons, a neuron subtype that regulates appetite. The transformation process took about 30 days. The neurons were found to display key functional properties of mouse arcuate hypothalamic neurons, including the ability to accurately process and secrete specific neuropeptides and to respond to metabolic signals such as insulin and leptin.

We dont think that these neurons are identical to natural hypothalamic neurons, but they are close and will still be useful for studying the neurophysiology of weight control, as well as molecular abnormalities that lead to obesity, said Dr. Leibel. In addition, the cells will allow us to evaluate potential obesity drugs in a way never before possible.

This shows, said Dr. Eggan, how improved understanding of stem cell biology is making an impact on our ability to study, understand, and eventually treat disorders of the nervous system. Because there are so few hypothalamic neurons of a given type, they have been notoriously difficult to study. The successful work by both groups shows that this problem has been cracked.

Original post:
Neurons Controlling Appetite Made From Skin Cells